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Ultra compact multi-standard low-noise amplifiers in 28 nm CMOS with inductive peaking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2017

Elena Sobotta ,
Guido Belfiore  and
Frank Ellinger
Elena Sobotta*
Affiliation:
Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Guido Belfiore
Affiliation:
Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Frank Ellinger
Affiliation:
Chair of Circuit Design and Network Theory, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
*
Corresponding author: E. Sobotta Email: elena.sobotta@tu-dresden.de
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Abstract

This work presents the design of two compact multi-standard low-noise amplifier (LNA) in a 28 nm low-power bulk CMOS process. The transistor parameters were optimized by the gm/ID method taking into account the parasitics and the behavior of highly scaled transistors. To cover the industrial science medical (ISM)-bands around 2.4 and 5.8 GHz, the WLAN band as well as the Ku band a bandwidth enhancement is required. Two versions of LNAs, one with vertical inductors and one with active inductors, are implemented and verified by measurements. The noise figure (NF) exhibits 4.2 dB for the LNA with active inductors and 3.5 dB for the LNA with vertical inductors. The voltage gain reaches 12.8 and 13.4 dB, respectively, with a 3 dB-bandwidth of 20 GHz. Both input referred 1-dB-compression points are higher than −12 dBm making the chips attractive for communication standards with high linearity requirements. The chips consume 53 mW DC power and the LNA with active inductors occupies a core area of only 0.0018 mm2, whereas the version with vertical inductors requires 0.021 mm2.

Keywords

Low-noise amplifiersPassive components and circuitsVertical inductors
Type
Research Papers
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 10 , Special Issue 1: Journee Nationale des Micro-ondes 2017 , February 2018 , pp. 47 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2017 

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